Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-03-05
LEGISLATIVE.
The s Herald's - Letter from
sacra mentO.

Special HERALD Correspondence.
SACRAMENTO, March 2, 1857.
This is the fifty ninth day of the ses-
zion, and tomorrow will close the Con.
stitutional period during which members
are allowed compensation for their ser.
vices. This being so, it is not at all
probable that the session will be of much
longer duration. California legislators
are celebrated for the alacrity with which
they return to their homes as soon as
tney discover that their income from
the State has ceased. The members of
the present Legislature already manifest
desire to disperse. For several days
past they have been in great hurry to
push legislation, and concurrent reso.
luton providing for final adjournment
has already been introduced in the
Assembly, the consideration of which
has been postponed. At that
time strong effort will be made to ad.
journ sine die. The night sessions this
week have been in many ways repeti-
tion of those of former years; as usual,
they have been conducted with barely
a quorum of members, and amidst scenes
of the greatest confusion. During the
latter part of these sessions, the states
man-lke dignity of our California solons
has relaxed and they have displayed a
skill in the discharge of paper.wads and
other similar projectiles that would
cause the envy of the most accomplish.
ed in the land. While these mimic com.
bats are in progress it is quite easy to
understand that the current of legisla-
ton flows rapidly and without inter.
ruption, bearing with it measures which
under any other circumstances would be
promptly attacked and defeated. All
this is well known to the experienced
lobbyist. and there is no need to tell him
that this is the time to slide through the
bills with bugs in them, and TO bring
about the fgurative grinding of the in.
dividual axes.
At a late hour tonight the Senate,
after several hours of rapid work on its
file, was adjourned for the reason that
Ouly ultCCA hiCubuIo WCLC lOuuu w UC
present
Yesterday brought the debris struggle
to close, and Walrath's bill passed that
body by the decisive vote of "a for to l6
against. IL came up as the special order
for the morning, and occupied the time
of the Senate until after o'clock in the
afternoon. Speeches were made against
the bill by Dray of Sacramento, and
Chandler, of Sutter. Senator Dray, in a
brief, but very earnest and pointed
argument in opposition to this measure,
told of his exposures in the pioneer
days and spoke of the transformations
that had been wrought in the Sacra-
mento river and its tributaries in conse-
quence of the downpour Of debris. He
drew graphic picture of those streams
as they appeared thirty-fve years ago,
when their waters were pure and clear
and their banks were high. At the con
clusion of Mr.. Dray's speech recess
was taken, after which Senator Chandler
arose and made one of the ablest ad.
dresses of the session. He spoke for
nearly an hour and gave a concise but
complete history of the protracted strug.
gle tor eXistapce between the farmers
and the miners. He told of the valley
as it was before the flood of debris had
began. and then he showed how deplor.
ably it had been affected by the slickens.
He told of hundreds of happy
homes that had been destroyed in this
way, of orchards whose highest branches
just peepcd above the ground, and of
graveyards whose tombstones were al.
most entirely hidden from view by the
deposit of debris. He said that thou
sands and thousands Of acres of the fin
est land in the state had been thus de.
stroyed, and that the land still remain.
ing had only been preserved by an out.
lay 80 great that every farm in the coun.
ties of his part of the State was bur
dened by tax mortgage of from SIS to
same reason taxes had often reached the
enormous rate of "a per cent year.
In Marysville the levees were Of vast ex.
tent, of great width, and of consider
able height, and yet in many cases they
were barely sufficient to prevent
the destruction of that city, and
of the lives of many of its in.
habitants by the troubled waters of
the Yuba. In fact the channel of that
stream had disappeared, aud its bed had
been raised by constant deposits of
slickens until it had ruined the streets
of Marysville, while the surface of the
stream was as high as the second stories
of the houses. A similar condition of
affairs existed in all the other towns in
that portion of the State. The speaker
told of the invention of hydraulic mon
itors, by which the mountains have been
shattered into atoms in few hours, and
the valley deluged with vast deposits of
debris. He reviewed the litigation be.
tween the farmers and the miners, and
gave history of the Legislation relative
to the subject of slickens. He concluded
by earnestly appealing to his brother
Senators to cast their votes in str c. &C.
,ordance with their sworn duty, and
not to enact a law which would
lullify all the results obtained by the
farmers, after years and years OF lit
cation.
Patterson, of Modoc, then took the
floor in support of the hill. He called
attention to the fact that the price Of